Brief Game Reviews: Sonic Adventure 2

The first Sonic Adventure was an OK game. It created an experience you would expect for Sonic the Hedgehog in three dimensions. Unfortunately, it also created boring experiences, like playing as Big the Cat.

Sonic Adventure 2 does away with the boring stuff by having you play as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles (in Hero mode). The Tails sections were my favorite. You pilot a mech and shoot down robots that get in your way. The Sonic parts were similar to those in Adventure 1, which is to say it’s like a 2D Sonic game in 3D. The Knuckles part… well, it’s kind of like using a metal detector at the beach to find buried treasure. It’s the least exciting of the three.

The game starts out fantastic for all characters. It’s really a lot of fun. Sadly, the level design starts to deteriorate around the middle of the game. The last Sonic level is especially bad. You’re grinding rail after rail (on your SOAP branded sneakers). Trying to accurately land on each rail is an exercise in repeated unnecessary death. It’s a shame, because Sonic Adventure 2 has the potential to be great from start to finish. But it just starts to feel lazy and sloppy toward the end.2/5